STAGE OTT scales revenue 6.3X in two years and takes the dialect model into 6 language markets
Regional-language streaming platform STAGE, reported a 6.3-fold increase in revenue between FY24 and FY26, reflecting an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 150% over the two-year period, according to performance data drawn from the company’s internal management accounts for the year ended March 2026 and the quarter ended June 2026.
The expansion has moved STAGE onto the industry’s market table. As per FICCI-EY’s estimate of approximate market share for India’s OTT and digital video market in 2024–25 places STAGE at 1.6%— four times the 0.4% attributed to aha, within 1.1 percentage points of ZEE5 at 2.7%, and within 1.3 points of SonyLIV at 2.9%. ZEE5 and SonyLIV are both backed by listed broadcast networks carrying decades of multi-language catalogue.STAGE is the only dialect-first platform to appear in the ranking.
Position on the market table
Approximate Market Share, Source — EY FICCI
The ranking is led by YouTube at 37.7% and JioCinema at 23.3%, with Netflix at 7.6% and Disney+ Hotstar at 7.2%. Below them sits a cluster of platforms separated by narrow margins — and it is in that cluster that STAGE now appears.
Where the sector is growing — and where STAGE sits in it
Compound Annual Growth FY24–FY26
India’s media and entertainment sector grew 9% in 2025 to ₹2.78 trillion, according to the FICCI-EY report released in March 2026. Digital media became the sector’s single largest segment, crossing ₹1 trillion in revenues for the first time.
Within that, one line grew faster than any other. Digital subscription revenues rose 60% to ₹163 billion, with paid video subscriptions reaching 216 million across 143 million Indian households. It is the fastest-growing revenue line in the FICCI-EY segment data, and it is the only line STAGE operates in: subscriptions accounted for 99.2% of the platform’s FY26 revenue.
FICCI-EY projects the sector to reach ₹3.3 trillion by 2028 at a compound rate above 7%, with new media accounting for more than half of total industry revenues by then. Among the forces it identifies as reshaping the market over the medium term are rising smartphone penetration, Connected TV adoption, experiential consumption — and growth in regional-language content
Against that backdrop, STAGE’s own trajectory is front-loaded. Indexed to FY24, the step-change came in FY25, with FY26 consolidating at a higher base — a two-year compound rate of approximately 150% a year.
Six markets: the dialect model beyond Haryana and Rajasthan
Audience Activity— up to June 2026
The question that has followed hyper-local streaming is whether a model built for one dialect transfers to another. STAGE now operates six language markets, and the June 2026 audience data shows activity well beyond its two founding markets.
Haryanvi recorded 1,66,934 monthly active subscribers and Rajasthani 1,43,903. Beyond them, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali together accounted for more than 1.24 lakh monthly active subscribers. Marathi, in its first reported quarter, grew from approximately 6,400 monthly active subscribers in April 2026 to 38,707 in June — a sixfold increase. Across the six markets, roughly 1,99,687 users watched content during June 2026.
Viewing penetration is highest in the oldest market: 53.4% of Haryanvi monthly active subscribers watched content in June, against 44.5% in Rajasthani and 47.5% in Gujarati. The markets are at materially different stages, and STAGE does not present the portfolio as uniformly mature — Bengali remains at incubation stage.
Three supply strategies, one playbook
The market-level content data shows STAGE entering markets three different ways. Haryanvi is original-led: 81% of FY26 content minutes added were originals, 65 titles in all, against a tracked catalogue of approximately 510 hours by March 2026. Rajasthani and Bhojpuri blend original production with acquisition and dubbing — Bhojpuri added 48 originals, 32 acquired and 21 dubbed titles, the broadest mix on the platform, with roughly 213 hours tracked. Gujarati entered dubbing-first, with 87% of its opening minutes dubbed.
Across Haryanvi, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri and Gujarati, FY26 added 139 originals, 69 acquired titles and 42 dubbed titles. Platform-wide, the tracked catalogue reached 44,949 minutes approximately 749 hours by February 2026, up 116.5% on April 2023, with 83 original releases between April 2025 and February 2026 against 32 in FY25.
Commenting on the company’s latest data report STAGE’s Co-founder & CEO Vinay Singhal says, “India has 22 official languages and more than 1,900+ dialects, and the streaming industry has built for about just five of them. Everyone calls the rest a niche. Half of everything watched on OTT in this country is already in a regional language; that is not a niche, that is the market. By building a platform that truly respects and reflects India’s regional cultures of our viewers, we are also building a connection that has simply been waiting for someone to serve it properly.”
STAGE is scaling AI across its production pipeline, with a growing slate of titles already built using frontier AI production tools — compressing the cost and cycle time of originals in languages where conventional production economics have never worked.
Revenue composition: a subscription-only model
STAGE carries no material dependence on advertising or sponsorship. Subscriptions accounted for 96.9% of revenue in FY24, 99.2% in both FY25 and FY26, and 99.7% in Q1 FY27. Within that base, the share generated by renewing and reactivating customers has risen in every reporting period on record: 30.4% in FY24, 56.7% in FY25, 69.7% in FY26, and 80.3% in Q1 FY27 — a 49.9 percentage-point expansion.
Latest reported quarter
Total revenue rose 10.5% year on year and subscription revenue 11.4%. Subscription share of total revenue and renewal share of subscription revenue were both the highest the company has recorded. Absolute quarterly revenue was not disclosed.
STAGE is India’s dialect-first streaming platform. Founded in November 2019 by Vinay Singhal, Parveen Singhal and Shashank Vaishnav and headquartered in Noida, it commissions originals in languages the mainstream industry has never served — beginning with Haryanvi, and now across six markets including Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali. The platform runs subscription-only, with no advertising or branded-content revenue.
Disclaimer: Information mentioned here has not been verified or endorsed by Agency Reporter and is in accordance with the press release shared by the company or their appointed representatives.
